Letter to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House Proposing Enactment of Foreign Assistance Legislation for Fiscal Year 1973

I AM forwarding herewith a draft of proposed legislation "To amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, and for other purposes." This legislation would authorize appropriations for fiscal year 1973 for international security assistance and for relief assistance in Bangladesh, make appropriations available for disaster relief in the Philippines, and make our military assistance more effective. These proposals are the same as those I presented to the Congress last year.

Foreign assistance plays an indispensable role in the achievement of our foreign policy and national security goals. Because the last Congress did not take final action on the legislative proposals before it or on foreign assistance appropriations, these programs have been operating for almost seven months under a continuing resolution providing temporary appropriations. The delay in enactment of authorization and appropriation bills has created uncertainties among our friends and allies as to our resolution and willingness to provide essential economic and security assistance. Yet this is precisely the time when confidence is most needed in our commitment to continuing our efforts to build a lasting structure of peace.

In the conviction that the timely and full support of these programs on the part of the Congress is in our own national interest, I urge the Congress to give early and favorable consideration to the legislation I am transmitting today.

Sincerely,

RICHARD NIXON